Three-position direct-current relay.



W. K. HOWE 6L 0. A. ROSS.

THREE POSITION DIRECT CURRENT RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.23. I9I2.

[NI/ENTORS @Ma/I, a fa@ ATTORNEY E WTNESSES.'

THE COLUMBIA PLANQGRAPH p0., WASHINGTDN. D. C.

W. K. HOWE 6L 0. A. ROSS.

THRIEE POSITION DIRECT CURRENT RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.23, 1912.

1,180,719, I Patented Apr. 25,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/TNESSES: i /NI/E/VTHS W ff. M

T COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON D C W. K. HOWE 6; 0. A. ROSS.

THREE POSITION DIRECT CURRENT RELAY.

APPLlcmoN FILED DEc.23. 1912.

1,180,719. Patented Apr. 25,1916

I mmmm ya By WH0/mfr THE COLUMBIA PLANoaRAPH co.y WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WINTHROP K. HOW AND OSCAR A. ROSS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, OF GATES, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

THREE-POSITION DRECT-CURR-ENT RELAY.

Application led December 23, 1912.

The primary object of this invention is the production of a three-position relay, which may be operated by the same difference of potential across its terminals, that is needed to operate a two position relay of the type used for similar purposes.

A further object of the invention is the production of a device of the type described, which will occupy no more space than an ordinary two position relay of the type used for similar purposes.

A further object of the invention is the production of a relay of the type described, including means to convey a current of electricity to the oscillatable armature thereof, and to convey it therefrom, which will not interfere in .any way with the free movement of the armature or create any counter torque upon the armature.

A further object of the invention is the production of a relay of the type described, which will be entirely free from the defect known as, armature locking.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description of the invention progresses, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

1n describing the invention in detail.A reference is had to the accompanying drawings, wherein we have illustrated a preferred physical embodiment of our invention, and wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and inwhich Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a relay embodying our improvements with the front cover removed; Fig. 2, is a vertical sectional view on the line A-B lof Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, but with the motor part of the relay unsectioned; Fig. 3, is an enlarged front elevational view of the motor part alone with the Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

serial No. 738,238.

crank removed from the shaft, and with the cover removed; Fig. 4.-, is a rear elevational view of the motor part with the rear cover removed; Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view of the motor part of the relay on the line C-D of Fig. 1, looking in thev direction of the arrows: Fig. 6 is a detailed side view of the armature of the motor part of the relay; Fig. 7, is a perspective view of the shaft of the motor part of the relay showing the counter-weights and operating means therefor as used by the applicant; Fig. S, is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view upon the line E-F of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 9, is an enlarged cross sectional view upon the line G-H of Fig. 6; Fig. 10, is a schematic illustration' of one means of using a relay embodying applicants invention.

The relay consists generally of a casing K, contacting devices X, and a motor M.

The casing K consists generally of three parts; a main body portion 1, a front cover Q, and a rear cover 3. The covers are rmly attached to the casing in any well known and approved manner as by screws, which may pass through the covers and into the threaded holes as 4 and shown in Fig. 1. Between the main body 1 and the covers 2 and 3, there are placed gaskets 6 and 7, which render the joints watertight. Each of these covers is formed with a large central opening at which is placed a pane of glass as 8 and 9, so that all of the mechanisms within the casing may be readily inspected from without.

The contacting devices X consist generally of two parts; oscillatory contact fingers as 11 and l5, and fixed contacts as 30 and 32. The oscillatory contact fingers as 14C and 15 are attached to and supported by arms 13. The arms 13 are fastened to an insulating member 10, which has trunnions 11 at opposite ends and these trunnions are journaled in bearings 1Q, which are fastened in any approved manner to the body of the casing l, as by screw threading. The fixed contacts as 30 and 32 are supported by binding posts as 19 and 1S respectively. The binding posts 1S and 19 are insulatingly supported by the top of the body of the casing 1, and are arranged in two rows of four each. Directly behind the row of binding and are held in the casing K by means ofI4 the clamping members 40, which are forced down onto the top outer' corner ofthe piermanent magnets by means of the set screws 41. which are threaded; into the bodyV of. thecasing. 11.

The soft ironv pole pieces: 37 and 38 are foi-medi separately and then placed ina mold and brass cast about the-m, so that when nish'ed', they virtual-ly form one integral piece with' thev brass connecting body 42.. The' union being made more secure by forming a plurality of lugs 43,. 44, 45', and 46, upon the soft iron pole pieces 37 and 38 havingl holes 47 and 48 therein, into which the brass', forming the body 42 may flow during the casting operation.

A front cover 49 is fastened to the brass body 42 and the soft iron pole pieces 37 and 38 by means of the screws 51, 52, 53 and 54; the rear cover 50 is similarly fastened by means of screws, two of which, and 56, are shown in Fig. 5. The front 'cover 49 has a depending portion 57, which is held firmly in contact with the pillars 58 and 59 formed on the bottom of the body of the casing 1, by means of the screws 60 and 61. The rear cover 50 has a depending portion 62 which is held rmly in Contact with a pillar 63, rising from the bottom of the body of the casing 1, by means of the screw 64.

The armature 39, which is fixed to the shaft 65, consists of a plurality of thin metal disks, which are pressed firmly together and are held in place by means of the collars 76 and 77 which are rigidly attached to the shaft in any well known or approved manner. On each end of the armature 39 is a disk o-f insulating material 80 for a purpose well understood by those skilled in the art. rlhe armature 39 has slots 81 therethrough in which wire is wound in the form of coils. These coils are connected in series andthe two terminals lare connected through the means to be vhereinafter described, with the binding posts 25 and 2.6. Each of ythe slots 81 has an opening 82 to the periphery of vthe armature. As shown by Fig.. 6, the openings and the slots 81 are not parallel with Ythe shaft 65, but are oblique or at an angle thereto. Each of the lopenings 82 is closed by means of a wedge-shaped ,piece of so'ft iron 83, which is placed into the slot from the end. After all ofthe wedge-shaped members 83 'are in place, the periphery .of the armature-39 is very .carefully ground so .that fit will be perfectly :smooth .and ,a .true

cylinder. A larger body of metal 84, occurs between the two top slots 81 of the armature and the two bottom slots 81 of the armature, than occurs between any two other slots of the armature, for purpose to be later explained.

The ends of the wire upon the armature shown at 85', 86, in Fig. 5, are respectively connected to stiff bent wires 87, 88,which pass through lateral holes and grooves in an insul-ating-` drum 89 xed to shaft 65. One wire 87 is connected to the inner end of a coiled conductive metal ribbon 90, located in one; annular chamber of the, drum 89, and the;l other wire 88, iscon-nected to the inner endA off' another coiled conductive ribbon 91, loca-tedin.= another annular chamber of the drum 89. The outer ends of the respective ribbons 90, 91, are fixed respectively to clips 93, 94,L which areconnected with the respective; binding posts 26,` 25. rlhe resilient conductive ribbons 90, 91, are coiled in opposite directions around the drum 89 and shaft 65, as best indicated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The shaft 65, armature 39 and drum 89, all turn together as the armature oscillates within limits of about thirty degrees to the right and left of a vertical line drawn through the center of the shaft. Should the armature wire ends 85, 86, be connected to the relatively fixed binding posts 26 25, by intermediate flexible wires, such connection would cause more or less of a pull or drag or torque strain upon the moving armature, which in proportionate degree would impair the sensitive turning of the armature under influence 0f electric currents of low potential usually prevailing in railway track circuits. Connecting the extensions 87 88, o-f the armature wire ends 85, 86, to the inner ends of the reversely coiled ribbons 90, 91 assures that as the oscillatory armature 39 turns either clockwise or counter-clockwise one of the ribbons will be contracted or more closely coiled while the other ribbon is expanded or to like degree uncoiled one coil thus operatively balancing the other, while maintain- 68. Loosely mounted upon the shaft just a in front of the two `armed crank-66, are two counter weights 69 and 70, which, when all parts ,are in the normal position, rest upon the arms 67 and `68 respectively of the two- `armed .crank .66. .In 7bit-169K@ ,are

shown separated longitudinally of the shaft merely for the sake of clearness, but they are actually in contact as shown in Fig. 5 and are held in contact by means of the collar 71, pinned to the shaft 65.

When no energy is being supplied to the motor all of the parts are in what is known as the normal position as shown by the gures, and weight 69 rests upon stop 72 and weight rests upon stop 73. Upon a movement of the armature 39 in the direction of' the arrow a, Fig. 3, the arm 67 contacts with weight 69 and moves it in the direction of the arrow a., until it contacts With the stop 74, during such movement, the weight 70 rests in the position as shown in Fig. 3 upon stop 73, but if the armature moves in the direction of the arrow b,

Fig. 3, then the weight 70 is moved by means of the arm 68 in the direction of the arrow ZJ until it contacts the stop 75, and during such movement the weight 69 rest-s in the position as shown in Fig. 3, upon stop 72.

The motor device M, and the contacting devices X are connected by means of link L. One end of link L is connected to the contacting devices X through the arm 16, which is attached firmly to the pivoted member 10 and has its outer end bent downwardly. Through the downwardly bent end a pin 102, bearing sleeves 100 and 101 is passed. The sleeves 100 and 101 are engaged by the link members 98 and 99. The members 98 and 99 have slots 103 and 104 in which the sleeves 100 and 101 are inserted. These slots are of such length that when the link is in the normal position of Figs. 1 and 8, the upper edge of slot 103 contacts the upper edge of' sleeve 100 and the lower edge of slot 104 contacts the lower edge of sleeve 101, so that, when the link members 98 and 99 are together moved downwardly, the member 98 is the driver, and when they are moved upwardly, 99 becomes the driver.

The lower ends of members 98 and 99 are connected by means of pins 97 and 96 respectively with disks 95 which is pinned to shaft 65. The pins 97 and 96 are situated respectively thirty degrees below and above a horizontal line through the center of shaft 65 as shown in Fig. 1.

Then the motor device through the link L moves the arm 16 downwardly, the contact finger 15 contacts with what is known as the back contact 30, so that a circuit is formed from binding post 20 to ribbon 29, arm 13, finger 15. contact 30 and support 31 to the binding post 19, so that if two binding posts 19 and 20 are inserted in series in a circuit, when the contact finger 15 is thus moved the circuit will be completed. If the motor device M, through the link L, moves the arm 16 upwardly, it will cause the linger .14 to contact with contact 32, so that a circuit may be thereby com: pleted from binding post 20 to binding post 18. By reference to the diagram, Fig. 10, it will be seen how such an arrangement of conducting devices may be employed. 33, in the diagram, designates a battery, one pole of' which is connected to the arm 13, bearing the contact fingers 14 and Then the arm moves to the upper dotted line position, a circuit is formed to binding post 18 and electro-magnetic device 34. Then the arm 13 is in the lower dotted position, and contact finger 15 makes contact with binding post 19, then the current from the battery 13 flows through the magnetic device 35. lith the number of binding posts and contact fingers shown in the relay selected by applicant to illustrate his invention a total of eight different electromagnetic devices may be controlled.

7hen no current is flowing through the wire wound upon the armature, it will rest in the position as shown in the drawing, Fig. 3 and also well shown by Fig. 9, that is, with the large masses of iron 84 directly above and below the center line of the shait 65. Then current is fed to the wire upon the armature, a magnetic flux will be generated which will be at right angles to the magnetic flux passing through the pole pieces 37 and 38, and generated by the plurality of permanent magnets 36 and which will constantly pass in greater part directly through the masses 84, which thus become the poles of the armature. As the flux from the permanent magnets 36 is constant in direction, the direction of movement of the armature can be reversed by reversing the flow of current through the wire wound on the armature.

If a source of current is connected to binding posts 25 and 26, which are connected by means of flexible conductors as 27, 28 with binding posts as 21, of which fthere are two and which constitute the rear row of binding posts placed on the top of the body of the casing, then the armature 39 will turn either in the direction of arrow a or Z) Fig. 3. The first 15C of movement of the armature is resisted by the counter'- weight 69 or 70, but after moving through 15o of arc, one of the contact fingers 15 o-r 14, moved by link L, comes in contact with a contact as 30 or 32, so that during the remaining 15O of movement of the armature which will carry the counter-weight 69 or 70, to its stop 74 or 7 the armature turns against both the counter-weight and the counter-torque exerted by the spring linger 15 or 14. The tension under which the lingers are placed upon making contact. and the backward torque of the counter-weights serves to give the armature an initial movement in the reverse direction when current is out off from the armature. After the contact fingers 15, 14 have severed contact with the contact 30 or 32 the counter-Weight 69 or TO continues the backward rotation of the armature to its original position shown in Fig. 3. A Weight 17 has been attached to member 10, o-n the side of the trunnions l1 opposite to that on which arms 13 and 16 are attached, so as to balance their Weight and so destroy any rotational bias of member 10.

lf armature 39 moves in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 1, and Fig. 3, then, -pin 96 will force link member 99 against sleeve 101 and so cause arm 16 to move the pivoted member 10 and attached arm 13 and carry Contact 14; into contact with contact32.

As the armature for a complete movement in either direction travels over an arc* of 30, the mechanical advantage of the crank formed by disk 95 and pin 96 Will gradually increase. rIhis is so because the mechanical advantage of the crank due to its decreasing effective length as it turns about the axis of shaft 65, will be proportional to the cosine of the angle Whose vertex is the axis of the shaft 65, one side of Which is a horizontal line, and the other side of Which is a line passed through the axis of shaft and the axis of pin 96, and as the cosine of such angle increases, as the angle increases, the mechanical advantage of the crank proportionately increases. At the same time that the crank is gaining in mechanical advantage, the returning torque exerted by Weight 69 will be constantly decreasing as the change in the returning torque exerted by the Weight is inversely proportional to the cosine of the angle of change. The torque of the armature is also inversely proportional to the cosine of the angle of change. The net result is, that the reduced torque of the armature as it Vturns through a larger and larger angle, is co-mpensated by the reduced returning torque exerted by the counterweight, so that the mechanical advantage gained by the crank is available in the relay illustrated for exerting some 3 inch-ounces of torque for forcing contact 14 against contact 32 to obtain good contact pressure.

By the combination of decreasing counter-Weight torque, decreasing armature torque, and increasing mechanical advantage the energy required to just cause the relay armature to start Will carry it through toy full contacting position of the contacts. 1t is also obvious that if after reaching full contacting position, the energy supplied to the relay is reduced to a point Where the returning torque overcomes friction, the relay contacts Will move to full open position, Which means that the relay has a high drop-away. if the armature is caused to sieve il; the directies @f the arrow Z, Fiss ,the pin 97 is at its limit of movement.

1 and 3, then the pin 97 acting on the link member 98, through the sleeve 100 and the arm 16, moves the pivoted member 10 and the arm 13 and carries the finger 15 into contact with contact 30. The greatest mechanical advantage is also obtained Wln e link construction embodying the members 98 and 99, therefore, causes a quick contact to be made and at the same time provides means to produce the requisite contact pressure.

The use of strips 33 of magnetic material to close the armature slots 82 instead of the ordinary Wooden strips generally used obviates the locking effect, which those familiar with electric motors thoroughlyv understand. It may be that the use of these strips slightly decreases the efhciency of the device, but such loss is more than compensated for by the increased margin of safety obtained. rlhe slots 32 as hereinbefore described are diagonally situated. This construction 0bviates any tendency for the armature :to lock With a slot parallel to a pole piece and in proximity to an edge thereof. rIhe tivo constructions together promote easy and positive return of the armature to normal position under the action of the counter-Weights When current is cut oft from the Winding of the armature.

Although We have particularly described the construction of one physical embodiment of our invention, and explained the operation and principle thereof; nevertheless, We desire to have it understood that the form selected is merely illustrative, but does not exhaust the possible physical embodiments of the idea of means underlying our invention.

Nhat We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a circuit controller; a fixed contact, a movable support, a contact on said sup.- port, an electric motor including an oscillatory armature exerting varying torque, means directly connecting said armature and support for adjusting the movable contact to the fixed contact and compensating the leverage thereby increasingY the mechanical.

advantage as the angle of movement of the A motor increases, and a weight exerting a decreasing counter-torque upon the motor as the angle of its movement increases.

3. A circuit controller comprising two fixed contacts, movable contacts adjustable to the fixed contacts for respectively closing separate circuits, an electric motor including an oscillatory armature exerting varying torque, and connections between the motor shaft and the movable contacts for automatically adjusting said movable contacts to the respective fixed contacts when the armature is turned clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively, said connections including means compensating the decreasing armature torque by increasing the leverage thereby increasing the mechanical advantage as the angle of movement increases during turning of the motor shaft and armature in either direction.

f-l. A circuit controller comprising two fixed contacts, movable contacts adjustable to the fixed contacts for respectively closing separate circuits, an electric motor including an oscillatory armature exerting varying torque, connections between the motor shaft and the movable contacts for automatically adjusting said movable contacts to the respective fixed contacts when the armature is turned clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively, said connections including means compensating the decreasing armature torque by increasing the leverage thereby increasing the mechanical advantage as the angle of movement increases during turning of the motor shaft and armature in either direction, and means exerting a decreasing counter-torque on the motor as the angle of its movement in opposite directions increases.

5. A circuit controller comprising two fixed contacts, movable contacts adjustable to the fixed contacts for respectively closing separate circuits, an electric motor including an oscillatory armatureexerting varying torque, connections between the motor shaft and the movable contacts for automatically adjusting said movable contacts to the respective fixed contacts when the armature is turned clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively, said connections including means compensating the decreasing armature torque by increasing the leverage thereby increasing the mechanical advantage as the angle of movement increases during turning of the motor shaft and armature in either direction, two counterweights loose on the shaft, and crank arms fixed to the shaft and actuating the counterweights which respectively exert a decreasing counter-torque on the motor as the angle of its movement in opposite directions increases.

6. In a circuit controller having a lower fixed contact, an upper fixed contact, and a contact movable so as to engage either the upper contact or the lower contact, means for actuating said movable contact conprising a motor including an armature fixed to an oscillatory shaft; a two-armed crank fixed to the shaft, one arm of the crank being' located below the horizontal through the axis of the shaft, the other arm. being located above the horizontal through the axis of the shaft; a link connected to the lower arm; a link connected to the upper arm; each of said links having a slot formed therein at the end remote from the crank; an arm rigidly connected to said movable contact; a downwardly facing shoulder on said arm and an upwardly facing shoulder on said arm; the lower face of the slot in the link connected to the upper arm of thc two-armed crank bearing against the downwardly facing shoulder and the upper face of the slot in the link connected to the lower arm of the two-armed crank bearing against the upwardly facing shoulder.

7. In a circuit controller having an upper fixed contact, a lower fixed contact and a contact movable so as to contact with the upper contact or to contact with the lower contact; a motor including field poles and an armature having a corel of magnetic material provided with longitudinal peripheral slots for the energizing winding, two of the slots at one point in the periphery of the armature being located a greater distance apart than any other two slots except two which are located at a diametrically opposite position on the periphery of the armature, thereby forming two bodies of magnetic material at the opposite ends of a diametrical line larger than are situated at the ends of any other diametrical line to thereby concentrate the magnetic iiux;vand means to cause said armature and said movable contact to have a normal position such that the movable Contact will be located about midway between the fixed contacts and the diametrical line joining the two large bodies of magnetic material in the 'armature will be about at right angles to a line joining the center of the field poles.

8. A circuit controller comprising fixed and movable contacts, an electric motor including field poles, and an armature having a winding disposed in a plurality of slots located to provide in the armature core two relatively large diametrically opposed poles concentrating the magnetic flux, and connections between the armature shaft and the movable contact adjusting said contact by turning of the armature.

9. A circuit controller comprising fixed and movable contacts, an electric motor including field poles, and an armature having a core provided with a plurality of oblique slots receiving the winding coils and reducing the tendency to armature locking, said coil receiving slots being relatively disposed to provide in the armature core two rela tively large diametrically opposed poles concentrating the magnetic ux, and connections between the armature shaft and the movable contact adjusting said contact by turning of the armature.

10. A circuit controller comprising fixed and movable contacts, an electric motor including field poles, and an armature having a core provided with a plurality of oblique slots receiving the winding coils and reducing the tendency to armature locking and also having a practically continuous magnetic periphery, said coil receiving slots being relatively disposed to provide in the armature core two relatively large diainetricallv opposed poles concentrating the magnetic iiuX and connections between the armature shaft and the movable contact adjusting said contact by turning of the armature.

11. An electric motor for a circuit controller. comprising magnetic field poles and an armature whose core has a plurality of oblique slots receiving the winding coils and relatively located to provide in the armature core two relatively large diametrically opposed poles concentrating the magnetic luX while reducing the tendency to armature locking.

l2. An electric motor for a circuit controller7 comprising magnetic field poles and an armature whose core has a plurality of oblique slots receiving the winding coils and reducing the tendency to armature locking and relatively located to provide in the armature core two relatively large diametrically opposed poles concentrating the magnetic flux, said armature also having a practically continuous magnetic periphery.

VVINTHROP K. HOVE. OSCAR A. ROSS. Witnesses:

LILLIAN L. PHILLIPS, LoRE'rTA M. SPIEss.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington. D. C. 

